Paul
Lynde had a solid career in television all throughout the 1960s and
1970s, appearing in a handful of memorable Bewitched episodes
as a semi-regular character (kooky Uncle Arthur). He was the center
square and comedy star of the long-running daytime game show Hollywood
Squares, made multiple guest appearances on the Dean Martin
Show, Donny & Marie and other variety programs, and had a one-year
stint as the lead in his own sitcom, The
Paul Lynde Show
in 1972.

He
first came to prominence on Broadway and in motion pictures, his big
successes were Bye, Bye Birdie (both play and film) and Under
the Yum Yum Tree. He became a popular guest star on dozens of sitcoms
in the early-'60s, landing his recurring role on the hit show Bewitched
in 1965.

Lynde's
career almost hit the skids at that point. He was a big drinker and
one evening in 1965, a young actor he was partying with in San Francisco
fell from the comedian’s hotel room to his death eight floors
below. The story would have been live on CNN today, but at that time
you could still hush things up in the press.

When
Bewitched was cancelled in 1972, most of the writers and crew
moved over to producer William Asher’s next project for ABC, The
Paul Lynde Show.

Like Bewitched,
the Lynde show had an unbelievable fantasy concept: Paul playing a straight
guy living in the suburbs with a wife and two kids dealing with the
everyday frustrations of life.

This
preposterous premise proved to be too much of a stretch even for people
who watched TV on a regular basis. Besides, the premise was a rip-off
of All in the Family, with Paul (and his wife) cohabitating
with their daughter and her lazy, long-haired hippy husband that he
can't stand.

Peter Marshall:
According to the old song, "At night, when you're asleep, into
your tent I'll creep." Who am I?
Paul Lynde: The scoutmaster?

By
the mid-'70s Paul Lynde was feeling boxed in, so to speak, and frustrated.
He was still a hot property, voted America’s favorite comedian
in a 1974 poll and highly sought out for every manner of TV game and
variety show.

He
even hosted his own hour on ABC in 1977, the Paul
Lynde Halloween Special, featuring the first prime-time
network appearance of KISS, along with Margaret Hamilton recreating
her role as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz.
In the special, Hamilton and Billie Hayes (as H.R. Pufnstuf's
Witchiepoo) team up to kidnap Paul in one of the campiest holiday celebrations
of all time. Other guests included, among others, Betty White, Donny
& Marie Osmond, Tim Conway and Roz Kelly as Happy Day's
Pinkie Tuscadero.

Here's a possibly intoxicated Paul Lynde doing the weather on the former WSPD, Ch. 13, in Toledo, OH, around 1978 or '79.

But Lynde
was starting to unravel. In 1978, he was arrested in Salt Lake City
outside a gay bar resulting in his being dropped as a regular guest
on the Donny & Marie show; it was his second arrest.